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Disclaimer:

Many stories herein are subject to the faulty, and sometimes creative, memory of the blog owner and should not be taken as factual, although the names and events are real! Kind of.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Unforgettable Turkey Dinner

We used to eat Turkey a lot. My mother-in-law would put it on early in the morning in the electric roaster and then ask us all out to eat lunch. There was always plenty, no matter how many extras joined the family for dinner.

One Saturday, we were getting dinner ready and waiting on my father-in-law's parents to arrive. Crystal was buttering the bread, and I was taking care of the turkey. Was that the time Crystal dropped a three pound bowl of Country Crock Butter on the kitchen carpet? I don't recall. Our family dinners are filled with messy memories.

But anyways, back to the turkey. Bonnie usually put her turkey in the roaster while it was still frozen. Didn't have to worry about thawing it, allowed for spontaneous turkey baking and we didn't like the giblets anyway so if they cooked away inside their little paper bag, no one cared.

This will probably horrify you roast, golden baked turkey purists, but we like the turkey falling apart. In fact, I'm hungry thinking about it now!

As I said, we were waiting on more guests and everyone had their little jobs to do--much chatter and laughing and kid yelling was going on. I was fishing through the broth to get all the little yummy juicy pieces out (and popping a few in my mouth!). I felt a bony piece and pulled it out to dump in the 'discard' pile...

and stared straight into the empty eye socket of the flesh-less turkey head.

I shrieked and dropped the horrifying thing back into the broth! Bonnie and Crystal came running (well, all the way from the other side of the table) and wanted to know what was wrong. At that point I had figured out what it was and started to laugh (and be grossed out).

We then used the strainer to hunt for the offending thing a bit, but decided we didn't really care to find it.

And then Grandma and Grandad arrived.

And wondered why no one else was eating turkey.

And that's the last time we ever baked turkey without thawing again....

Yucko! If that had happened at our house the boys would have had that head "disected" right after they learned of it's excistence. Speaking of...do you remember discecting all the chicken heads when Mom and Grandma Irene cleaned chickens every year? You were so much braver than I. You messed with the eyeballs. I could barely look at the things.

The meal has been eaten.The kitchen is clean. The leftovers are stashed.The walk has been taken. Everyone is happy and fed and blessed. Now I have the time to stop by. On this Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to tell you that I am thankful for you; for this blog; for our friendship. Sending you much love, Relyn